enclaves
Islands within borders
Enclaves are distinct areas enclosed within larger, different surroundings.
In geography, an enclave is territory entirely surrounded by another country: Vatican City is an enclave within Italy.
The word extends to any community or district set apart by ethnicity, culture, or class: an enclave of artists in the warehouse district, wealthy enclaves in the suburbs.
The defining feature is separation—a pocket of difference within a dominant whole.
Bounded on all sides
- encircledSurrounded on all sides
- landlockedHaving no sea access
- cut-offSeparated or terminated
- insularNarrow in outlook
segregated · sequestered · walled · gated · bounded · enclosed · separated · detached
Scattered population sharing origins
- ghettoSegregated urban quarter
- quarterOne of four parts
- barrioHispanic urban district
- ChinatownAsian immigrant neighborhood
Little Italy · shtetl · casbah · medina · compound · commune · settlement · colony
Outer edge or limit
- boundaryLine marking a limit
- demarcationFormal boundary setting
- jurisdictionLegal authority's scope
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
district · zone · sector · region · province · encirclement · partition · corridor
surrounded
Bounded on all sides
- encircledSurrounded on all sides
- landlockedHaving no sea access
- cut-offSeparated or terminated
insular · segregated · sequestered · walled · gated · bounded · enclosed · separated · detached · quarantined
diaspora
Scattered population sharing origins
Chinatown · Little Italy · shtetl · casbah · medina · compound · commune · settlement · colony · neighborhood
border
Outer edge or limit
- boundaryLine marking a limit
- demarcationFormal boundary setting
- jurisdictionLegal authority's scope
sovereignty · district · zone · sector · region · province · encirclement · partition · corridor · buffer
sanctuary
Protected sacred space
stronghold · bastion · redoubt · shelter · oasis · bubble · cocoon · preserve · pocket · island
- groupsteam, teams, group, club, clubs
- communityneighbors, neighborliness, neighborhoods, kinship, community centers
- human geographycultural landscape, demographics, migration, demography, urbanization
- Central AsiaKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan
- Map odditiesBermuda Triangle, phantom islands, terra incognita, here be dragons, disputed borders
- sociolinguisticssociolinguistics, diglossia, bilingualism, dialects, code-switching
enclavesexclaves
Disconnected portions of countries
mainland · mother country · hinterland · periphery · borderlands
enclavesopen spaces
Unoccupied expanses or gaps
expanses · frontier · commons · public spaces · international waters
- cultural enclaveConcentrated immigrant community area
- ethnic enclavesImmigrant community neighborhoods
- immigrant enclavesTransplant community districts
- wealthy enclaveProsperous isolated community
- urban enclaveSelf-contained city neighborhood
- suburban enclaveInsular residential outskirt district